ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Defence
AIR MARSHAL NARMDESHWAR TIWARI TAKES OVER AS
AIR OFFICER COMMANDING-IN-CHIEF
SOUTH WESTERN AIR COMMAND
Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari took over as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief , South Western Air Command  at Gandhinagar on 01 May 2023. He succeeds Air Marshal Vikram Singh, who superannuated on 30 Apr 2023.
Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari was commissioned in the Fighter Stream on 07 Jun 1986. He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and passed out as the President Gold Medalist. He has flown over 3600 hours on various types of aircraft. He is a Qualified Flying Instructor as well as an Experimental Test Pilot. The Air Marshal has rich field experience which also includes operational testing of various weapons and systems, primarily on the Mirage-2000. He was actively involved in operations and took part in many important missions during the Kargil conflict. He has also commanded a frontline fighter base in the Rajasthan sector. Thereafter, he served as the Chief Test Pilot of ASTE, the Air Force's premier flight testing establishment. He was Air Attaché at Paris from 2013-16. On return from France, he commanded Air Force Station Jodhpur. He took over as Project Director  at National Flight Test Centre in Oct 2018, where he was actively involved with the development and operationalisation of Light Combat Aircraft TEJAS.
Prior to assuming charge as the AOC-in-C SWAC, the Air Marshal was Deputy Chief of the Air Staff at Air HQ. For his distinguished service, he was awarded the 'Vayu Sena Medal' in 2008 and 'Ati Vishisht Seva Medal' in 2022.
Ministry of Science & Technology
Scientists develop molecular sensor that will aid identifying new drugs of therapeutic value
Researchers have recently developed a molecular sensor, which can identify cancer drugs by detecting how such chemicals modify microtubules inside living cells.
Microtubules are part of the cytoskeleton, a structural network within the cell's cytoplasm, and they alter in response to several chemicals.
Understanding tubulin modifications has remained a challenge till date because of unavailability of tools that can mark them in living cells. Researchers from inStem, Bangalore, India, in collaboration with Curie Institute, Orsay, France, funded by Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research , a bilateral organization supported by Department of Science & Technology , Government of India and Government of France decided to overcome this shortcoming and developed the first tubulin nanobody - or sensor to study the dynamics of microtubule modifications in living cells and use this for identification of new cancer therapeutic drugs. This work has been recently published recently in the Journal of Cell Biology.
The researchers from Bangalore and Orsay devised a method to design synthetic proteins, known as nanobodies, which can bind specifically to modified microtubules. These nanobodies are similar to antibodies made in our body as a defense mechanism against pathogens. However, unlike antibodies, the nanobodies are smaller in size and easily amenable for protein engineering. The nanobody was then coupled with a fluorescent molecule to serve as a detection tool, called sensor. They developed and validated a live cell sensor against a unique microtubule modification called tyrosinated form of microtubules that is already known to be important for cell division and intracellular organization.
The tyrosination sensor is the first tubulin nanobody - or sensor - that can be used to study the dynamics of microtubule modifications in living cells. CEFIPRA researchers have shown the application of this sensor in studying the effect of small-molecule compounds that target microtubules. These chemicals are frequently used as anti-cancer drugs. Thus, the tyrosination sensor will facilitate studying microtubule functions for many researchers and will aid identifying new drugs of therapeutic value.
[Publication link: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201912107]
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Minhaj Sirajuddin  Bangalore, India
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Carsten Janke  Orsay, France
[Resources:
The sensor plasmids are available from Addgene for non-commercial research use.
https://www.addgene.org/search/catalog/plasmids/?q=a1ay1
For commercial applications, please contact minhaj@instem.res.in.]
Ministry of Civil Aviation
About 10,800 Indians brought back by special flights from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries
11 Civilian and 4 IAF flights to bring more citizens in next 24 hours
Under ‘Operation Ganga’ to rescue Indian citizens, 17 special flights have come back to the country today from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries, including 14 civilian flights and 3 C-17 IAF flights. One more Civilian flight is expected to arrive later in the day. While Civilian flights carried 3142 persons, C-17 flights evacuated 630 passengers. So far, over 9364 Indians have been evacuated by 43 special civilian flights. 7 flights of C-17 have so far evacuated 1428 passengers and taken 9.7 tonnes of relief material. Today’s civilian flights included 4 from Bucharest, 2 from Kosice, 4 from Budapest, 3 from Rzeszow and 2 from Suceava, while IAF flew 2 flights from Bucharest and 1 from Budapest.
Tomorrow, 11 special civilian flights are expected to bring back more than 2200 Indians, with 10 landing in New Delhi and one in Mumbai. 5 flights will originate from Budapest, 2 from Rzeszow and 4 from Suceava. Four C-17 aircraft are airborne for Romania, Poland and Slovakia, which are expected to reach late at night and early morning tomorrow.
Ministry of Home Affairs
Home Minister-level Talks between India and Bangladesh
The Seventh meeting of the India-Bangladesh Home Minister Level Talks  was held in New Delhi on 07 August 2019. The HMLT was co-chaired by Shri Amit Shah, Home Minister of India and Mr. Asaduzzaman Khan, Minister for Home Affairs of Bangladesh.
Home Minister congratulated the visiting dignitary on his resumption of the office as Home Minister of Bangladesh for a second term, and reiterated India’s full support for Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s development agenda. Both the Ministers reiterated the significance attached to the bilateral relationship, which is forged in the 1971 Liberation War, which goes far beyond a strategic partnership. Today, our ties are a role model for good neighbourly relations across the world. They are rooted in history, culture, language and shared values of democracy, secularism, development cooperation and countless other commonalities.
During the meeting, the Ministers expressed satisfaction that both countries are working closer than ever before in every sector, including security and border management. They reiterated their commitment to keep the borders friendly, and in this regard appreciated the close co-operation between their border guarding forces. Home Minister appreciated Bangladesh’s policy of not allowing use of its territory by extremists and insurgents for perpetrating violence in other countries including India.
The gamut of issues related to bilateral security co-operation were discussed during the meeting. Both the Home Ministers reaffirmed the need to further curb the menace of trans-border crimes, and therefore agreed to the need for greater co-operation to achieve our aim of a secure border. Both sides also reviewed the pending issues related to security and infrastructure at the borders, and agreed to take steps towards the expedited resolution of these matters. Home Minister Shri Amit Shah also raised India’s concern regarding the illicit movement of undocumented persons across the border, with a view to find solutions to this problem especially in North East India.
The Indian Home Minister assured the Home Minister of Bangladesh of India’s continuing support for safe and speedy repatriation of the displaced Myanmar citizens sheltered in Bangladesh, for whom India has provided humanitarian assistance in four tranches since September 2017.
The leaders also looked forward to enhancing cooperation in simplifying people to people contact and travel for business, health and tourism, including through promoting connectivity.
Prime Minister's Office
PM congratulates Nishad Kumar for winning Silver medal in Men’s High Jump T47 at Paralympics Games
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has congratulated Nishad Kumar for winning the Silver medal in Men’s High Jump T47 at Paralympics Games in Tokyo.
In a tweet, the Prime Minister said;
"More joyful news comes from Tokyo! Absolutely delighted that Nishad Kumar wins the Silver medal in Men’s High Jump T47. He is a remarkable athlete with outstanding skills and tenacity. Congratulations to him. #Paralympics"
Ministry of Finance
Atal Pension Yojana
The Atal Pension Yojana  is a Government of India Scheme launched on 9th May, 2015, with the objective of creating a universal social security system for all Indians, especially the poor, the under-privileged and the workers in the unorganised sector. APY became operational w.e.f. 1st June, 2015, and is open to all citizens of India between 18-40 years of age having a savings bank account in a bank or post-office.
Atal Pension Yojana, within a period of 4 years since its launch in June, 2015, has been able to enroll nearly 1.68 crore subscribers as on 3rd July, 2019.
APY is being administered by PFRDA which has taken several steps to create awareness about the scheme. Some of the steps are as below:
- Periodic advertisements in print and electronic media.
- Capacity building of bank branch officials/ banking correspondents through various training programs so that information regarding the scheme and its benefits can be disseminated to the potential/eligible population.
- Participation in Town-hall meetings and SLBC meetings being conducted by Banks for creating awareness of the products.
- Conducting of periodic meetings with bank officials for reviewing the progress of implementation of Atal Pension Yojana across the country.
- PFRDA vigorously advises all APY Service Providers  to promote the scheme for outreach of the scheme to the ultimate prospective customers.
Atal Pension Yojana  was launched by the Central Government on 9th May 2015 to address the risks of old age of the people working in unorganized sector and who are not covered under any statutory social security scheme
This was stated by Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
Ministry of Commerce & Industry
Government allows sale of excess tobacco produced by registered growers and unauthorized tobacco produced by unregistered growers without any penalty,on auction platforms in karnataka for the crop season 2022-23
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal has considered to allow the sale of the excess flue cured Virginia tobacco produced by registered growers and unauthorized flue cured Virginia tobacco produced by unregistered growers without any penalty considering the low production during the 2022-2023 Karnataka Crop season.
In Karnataka, during this crop season, 40,207 farmers cultivated FCV tobacco in an area of 60,782 hectares. The total production of FCV tobacco in Karnataka remained at 59.78 million kgs against the crop size of 100.00 million kgs fixed by Tobacco Board , due to continuous rains during months of June and July 2022.
The decision of imposing no penalty on the sale of excess FCV tobacco will greatly benefit the farmers of Karnataka to recover the loss due to less production during this crop season. This consideration will hand hold the FCV tobacco farmers to overcome their financial plight inflicted due to low production and low earning and would greatly help the growers to continue their livelihood.
Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways
‘Swachhata takes you closer to God’, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal joins people in the ‘Swachhata Hi Sewa’ drive from Dibrugarh, Assam
Shri Sonowal applauds the success of this wonderful movement with enthusiastic participation by the people of Assam under the inspiring leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi
Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal led the ‘Swachhata Hi Sewa’ movement from Dibrugarh, Assam today. On this occasion, the Union Minister thanked the people of Assam for their enthusiastic participation in this novel movement of cleanliness under the inspiring leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.
Speaking on the occasion, the Shri Sonowal said, “As we join the ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ movement and offer our ‘Shram’, it is heartening to witness how the people of Assam has responded to the call of our dynamic leader, honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji, and making this movement a success with their enthusiastic participation. We must remember what Mahatma Gandhi jis message on cleanliness and how it resonates through Jan Bhagidari for a Garbage Free India. Cleanliness brings us closer to the Godliness. We must remain steadfast towards this noble objective of a clean Bharat for achieving a Swastha Bharat, a vision of our leader Narendra Modiji.”
Prime Minister's Office
Boost to Energy Security
PM visits Guntur, dedicates 1.33 MMT Visakhapatnam SPR facility to the nation
BPCL Coastal Installation Project and ONGC’s S1 Vasishta unveiled.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi visited Guntur, in Andhra Pradesh and unveiled three major projects today.
Shri E. S. L. Narasimhan, Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and Shri Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation were also present on the occasion.
In a boost to energy security of the country, PM dedicated to the nation, 1.33 MMT Visakhapatnam Strategic Petroleum Reserve  facility of Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Limited . The cost of the Project is Rs. 1125 crore. The Facility has the largest underground storage compartment in the country.
He laid the foundation stone for setting up Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd  Coastal Installation Project at Krishnapatnam. The estimated cost of the project, spread over 100 acres is Rs. 580 crore. Project will be commissioned by November 2020. Fully automated and State of the art Coastal Installation Project will ensure security of the petroleum products for Andhra Pradesh.
Giving major push to the Gas Based Economy, PM also dedicated to the nation, ONGC’s S1 Vasishta development project located in the Krishna-Godavari  Offshore Basin in Andhra Pradesh. The cost of the Project is about Rs.5,700 crore. This project will contribute significantly in realising PM’s vision of reducing oil imports by 10% by 2020.
Ministry of Culture
Vande Bharatam zonal level competitions from tomorrow in Bengaluru
To select dance troupes for Republic Day 2022 as part of Vande Bharatam project
Vijayawada, Dec 10, 2021
Vande Bharatam, the Dance Competition being held to select the best talent to perform at the Republic Day Parade on 26th January, 2022 in New Delhi, has reached an exciting stage. After the successful and energetic performances held in Kolkata and Mumbai, the journey of Vande Bharatam is now moving to Bengaluru.
The third zonal level event of this competition will be held at Dr. B R Ambedkar Bhavan, Bengaluru tomorrow . More than 36 State Level Qualifying Teams participatated in various states of the South Zone would take part in the event. Groups selected from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar are going to represent in the Zonal level competition.
Among the four zonal level events of this competition, the first event was held at Kolkata on  followed by the second at Mumbai on . Participants of both the zones raised the bar of the competition with their excellent performances. It may be noted that this is for the first time dance troupes that perform in Republic Day parade are being chosen based on an all-India level competitions.
This is a unique initiative of the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Culture to commemorate the 75th year of India’s Independence being celebrated as Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
The Vande Bharatam competitions which began at district level on November 17, 2021 saw participation of more than 3,870 contestants in 323 groups. The winners at the district level took part in State level competitions from November 30, 2021. More than 20 virtual events were conducted for the State-level competitions over a span of 5 days till December 04, 2021. Over 300 groups were selected for the state-level comprising of over 3,000 dancers/participants.
Thus, over a period of one month the event gave an opportunity to all aspirants to showcase their talent to win a slot at national level.
The earlier zonal level events in Kolkata and Mumbai, witnessed the rich dance forms, music, songs of India in classical, folk, tribal and contemporary forms. The third zonal level event in Bengaluru is equally reflected to live up to the expectation.
The zonal level competitions will be broadcast LIVE on the official Facebook page & YouTube channel of Vande Bharatam along with the website  and mobile application platform.
Department of Space
BRICS remote Sensing Satellite Constellation
The space agencies of BRICS nations have been negotiating a Framework Agreement to formalize the cooperation on building a ‘virtual constellation of remote sensing satellites’, made up of satellites contributed by BRICS space agencies. Technical aspects with respect to identifying the satellites and the ground stations for the initial virtual constellation were discussed by the Space Agencies.
The purpose of the proposed virtual constellation is to get access to satellite remote sensing data, which could be used by the individual BRICS nations for various applications including natural resources management and disaster management.
This information was provided by the Union Minister of State  Development of North-Eastern Region , MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
PIB Headquarters
Gold,Laptops,Cigarettes worth Rs. 16.3 lakhs seized by Customs At Chennai Airport
On Wednesday one Jahufer Sadiq ,39, from Ramanathapuram who had arrived from Dubai by Fly Dubai Flight FZ 447 intercepted at the exit. On his personal search, one gold cut bit weighing 10 grams and one semi-finished crude gold chain weighing 30 grams, total 40 grams valued at Rs. 1.5 lakhs were recovered from his pant pocket. On examination of his baggage, 22 Cartons  of Gudang Garam Cigarettes worth Rs. 52000 and 17 refurbished laptops worth Rs. 85000 were recovered which were concealed in his personal effects. Further, as he appeared to be nervous, on persistent questioning he admitted to have concealed 3 bundles of gold in rubbery spread form in rectum. On extraction 345 grams of gold worth Rs. 13.45 lakhs was recovered . Thus total gold and goods valued at Rs. 16.32 lakhs were recovered and the same were seized under Customs Act 1962.
Further investigation is in progress according to a press release issued by the Commissioner of Customs, Anna International Airport, Chennai
Ministry of Development of North-East Region
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh addresses “Amazon Sambhav online Summit”
NE region to emerge as the business destination of the entire Indian subcontinent in the Post-COVID era: Dr Jitendra Singh
Union Minister of State  Development of North Eastern Region , MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr.Jitendra Singh said here that the Post-COVID economy of India will look for unexplored potentials and under such circumstances, the hitherto lesser utilised resources from lesser projected regions will assume an important role. In this regard, he cited the example of bamboo from Northeast and other vast resources in the North Eastern Region as a whole.
Addressing the “Amazon Sambhav online Summit” on the theme “Unlocking Infinite Possibilities for India”, Dr Jitendra Singh said, every adversity is accompanied with some virtue and one of the positive aspects of tumultuous COVID phase has been that it prompted us to look for new avenues, new potentials and new resources to supplement the economy and make up for the deficit accruing as a result of the pandemic. This, in turn, has led to a situation, wherein the North Eastern region of India has an opportunity to emerge as the business destination of the entire Indian subcontinent, he said.
Lauding the Amazon’s new initiative titled “Northeast Spotlight”, Dr Jitendra Singh said, this is indicative of the fact that even the business world of India has begun to realise where it should be looking to make a further headway in Post-COVID economy. He said, when all the known conventional resources and potentials across the country appeared to have got saturated or exhausted, Northeast will still have something to offer and that gives it a pivotal role in the times to come.
The Modi government, said Dr Jitendra Singh, is seriously conscious of this emerging scenario. That is why, he said, the 100-year-old “Indian Forest Act” has been amended to exempt home grown Bamboo from its provision and the Import duty on bamboo has been hiked in order to promote domestic bamboo products.
In the aftermath of COVID, said Dr Jitendra Singh, all the stakeholders and policy planners will have to give a special focus to small and medium businesses as well as the sustainability of new or recent Start-Ups. He said, in times like this, joint initiatives and joint ventures will be imperative to put back on track all that had tended to get off the track due to COVID related turbulence.
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SNC
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Special Service and Features
1.11 kg Gold worth Rs. 58.6 lakhs seized by Chennai Air Customs, one arrested.
Today, one Shahul Hameed, 40, of Pasipattinam, Tamil Nadu who arrived from Dubai by Indigo Flight No. 6E 66 was intercepted at exit on suspicion of carrying gold. On personal search, four packet of gold paste weighing 850 grams were recovered from his hand bag. On extraction 740 grams of gold of 24K purity valued at Rs. 38.9 lakhs was recovered and seized under Customs Act. He was arrested.
Earlier on Monday, one Mohamed Sajamkhan Kalandar Ayubkhan, 23, of Ramanathapuram, who arrived from Dubai by Indigo flight No 6E-66 was intercepted at exit. On persistent questioning he confessed of carrying gold paste bundles concealed in rectum. On personal search 5 bundles of gold paste weighing 437 grams were recovered from rectum. Total 375 grams of gold valued at 19.70 lakhs was recovered after extraction and same was seized under Customs Act 1962.
Total 1.11kg gold of 24K purity valued at Rs. 58.6 lakhs was recovered and same was seized under Customs Act 1962. One arrested.
Further investigation is under progress.
This is stated in a press release issued by the Commissioner of Customs, Chennai International Airport.
Ministry of Communications
TRAI issues direction to all telecom service providers to inform it about any major network outage
It has been observed that incidences of major network outage of telecom networks occurring due to technical reasons or due to natural calamities are not reported by the Telecom Service Providers  to TRAI. These major network outages in the country for prolonged duration, especially in border and hilly areas, adversely affect the availability or quality of service in affected areas.
To understand the root cause of major network outages and get relevant support from local authorities extended to the service providers, if needed, the Authority has decided to collect the information about any such outage at the district level.
In view of the above, the Access Service Providers have been directed to report the following:
- all incidences of major network outages affecting the telecom services to the entire consumers of a district  continuously for a period of more than four hours, within twenty-four hours of their occurrence, in the format specified in the Direction.
- the root cause of such major network outage and corrective actions taken thereof, within seventy-two hours of restoration of services, in the format specified in the Direction.
The Direction shall come into force with immediate effect.
RKJ/DK
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